


Smelly Rescue

by lesbomancy



Series: Against the Occupation [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 10:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5494367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbomancy/pseuds/lesbomancy





	Smelly Rescue

The blast doors to the hanger flung upwards with a heavy metallic skidding, two full platoons of Imperial soldiers pouring through the wide corridor with droids and several Balmorran Integrity Force officers, all of them armed to the teeth. They opened fire almost immediately, their wall of blaster fire forcing all of the rebels, including Axele, down onto their knees huddled behind shipping containers. Few tried to return fire but with the numerical advantage the Imperials had it was only a matter of time until they were overrun or killed. The few prisoners they were able to save were mostly noncombatants; intellectuals, dissenters, philosophers, political figures, business people.

Axele reached out to shake Ronyo’s arm, “We need an exit now!”

“Ease off!” he barked in Huttese. “They changed the maintenance codes, gotta find a workar- got it! Got it!”

Towards the opposite end of the hangar a set of double wide doors opened, the Rodian unplugging his datapad as he huddled close to cover. “Disposal hatch. Leads to the compactor!”

“That better not be the only thing it leads to, damn it!” She growled, whipping behind the corner to fire off a burst from her pistol. One droid went down, it’s red optic burning out and smoking from a direct hit.

“Of course it isn’t! Right near the outgoing garbage. Food waste!”

“Food waste?!”

“There’s no alternative! We can get out through the piping,” Ronyo said. “Or we stay and die!”

“Food waste!” Axele cried, “To the back door, everyone go! Jelnu, Ronyo, Feo, spray and pray! Covering fire!”

The three resistance members popped out of cover all at the same time and began to fire into the well-covered, slowly advancing Imperials. Poor aim didn’t clip any of their armor but several battle droids crumpled over after losing most of their key parts, the political prisoners running as fast as they could towards the open doors. Once they were clear Axele let out a shrill whistle and the trio ran as fast as they could. Imperial fire was mostly accurate but they were used to dodging blaster fire, they knew how to put cover between themselves as they jumped over fuel lines and between containers. 

They made it through without a single casualty except for their sense of smell, the faint stench of rotting garbage and the nearby disposal pipeline already making it’s presence unkindly known to anyone with a working set of nostrils. The two platoons behind them were moving just as fast and in true Ronyo fashion he made it difficult for them to undo what he did, diverting his actions to mundane tasks such as air filtration and lighting. The corridor flickered as the Imperial technician struggled to keep up with the Rodian’s erratic string of coding and near wizardry.

“Left, run left and get in the pipe”! Ronyo yelled at the group of refugees stuck at an intersection before the main recycling vat. The corridor opened up and turned into narrow metal catwalks, Axele priming her explosive charges and slapping them to each support strut she passed.

Imperial footfalls grew closer with each moment until they made it to the main drainage room, several of the prisoners pulling the maintenance hatch free already. One by one they jumped into the waist-high water, the force of the rushing water and garbage sweeping them off their feet and down the pipe. Ronyo quickly showed them how to avoid getting a concussion and rushed them in as fast as he could. Jelnu and Feo went next, with Axele holding her detonator as she stared down the catwalk.

“Hey! HEY! We need to go now!” Ronyo called out, ready to jump into the pipe.

Axele grumbled and pressed her thumb down on the detonator, pushing Ronyo into the pipe before jumping in herself. The rushing water and the vomit-inducing stench of Sobrik’s week-old garbage was all she could focus on, though she definitely knew she felt the vibrations from the explosions. When she did finally shoot out and land into a moist pile of gunk she was more than a little disoriented, as were all of the others. Jelnu was a thrillseeker by nature and she didn’t seem bothered at all as she organized everyone according to their plan. Each of them would take three, then they’d go back to different safehouses so the prisoners could do… something. Adjust, maybe join the resistance if they had the skills or the guts to do it.

And in a guerrilla war there was no resting until you were under cover. Axele got her three, bid her farewell to Ronyo and the others and tried her best to jog off towards an outer Sobrik safehouse. Hopefully they had a damn change of clothes.


End file.
